Kansas City Greens stand with the Millions Prisoners March

Slavery did not end in 1865. It is alive and well in the United States of America, thanks to the 13th Amendment of the US Constitution. Missouri is one of the top 10 states with the highest rate of imprisonment.

The Green Party of Kansas City, Missouri stands in solidarity with the Million Prisoners March in Kansas City and across the US. The struggle against the ills of capitalism, colonialism and imperialism must be taken on as we struggle for our collective liberation through electoral and extra-electoral means.

Millions for Prisoners Human Rights is a mass demonstration of all people and groups on Washington and in cities, including Kansas City, throughout the United States to bring world attention to the 13th amendment of the United States Constitution. This amendment legalized enslavement by allowing its continuation through the prisons. Hence the ramifications, such as:

mass enslavement

racial profiling

discriminatory legal applications of sentencing

police killings

truth in sentencing laws (85%)

life without parole

political prisoners long term confinements

private prisons

and no requirements of u.s prisons to offer rehabilitation programs.

The Green Party of Kansas City, Missouri stands with the Million Prisoners March by joining in making the following demands:

We demand the 13th amendment exception clause of the United States Constitution be amended to abolish legalized slavery in America.

We demand a Congressional hearing on the 13th Amendment exception clause being recognized in violation of international law, the general principles of human rights, and its direct links to:

Private entities exploiting prison labor

Companies overcharging prisoners for goods and services

Private entities contracted by states/federal government to build and operate prisons. This would also include immigration detention centers.

Racial disparities in America's prison population and sentencing

Policing: the disproportionate (unaccountable) killings by police in the black and brown communities

Felony Disenfranchisement laws

Immigration and Customs Enforcement 34,000 detention quotas producing the world’s largest prison population

Medical treatment for prisoners

Address the horrendous conditions in prisons, such overheating due to lack of air-conditioning

In summation, this is what we call the Prison Industrial Enslavement Complex and the Green Party of Kansas City, MO joins the struggle for decarceration and urges our members to show up on August 19 for the Millions for Prisoners March in Kansas City, promote the event on all Social Media outlets, educate themselves about the struggle for decarceration and continue to organize around this critical human rights and social justice issue.